Commander Keen on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons: Episode 1: Marooned on Mars (Dec. 14th 1990) Episode 2: The Earth Explodes (1991) Episode 3: Keen Must Die! (1991) Commander Keen's very first adventure, and the debut of id's groundbreaking side-scrolling technology.
Commander Keen is a platformer, classic and 1990's game
developed and published by id Software.
Released on August 03rd 2007 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 1,501 reviews of which 1,402 were positive and 99 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.9 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Commander Keen into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
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Windows
Minimum: A 100% Windows XP/Vista-compatible computer system
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
i just finished the Commander Keen series (I had to download CK6 separately because it does not come with this pack for - I guess? - licensing reasons. I thoroughly enjoyed re-playing all the games. My favourite episodes are the original game, Invasion of the Vorticons; the 4th in the series, Goodbye Galaxy and finally Keen 6, The Aliens Ate My Babysitter. All of these are excellent games, each for different reasons. If I had to choose a favourite then it would probably be a coin-toss between the original, CK1 and Commander Keen 4. Episode 2, The Earth Explodes and Keen 5, The Armaggeddon Machine, are both notable runners-up, falling into second place with Keen 3, Keen Must Die, being the worst of the series. (I have to say, I found Keen 3 so crappy that I didn't even bother to even finish it. The levels are all ridiculously difficult and complicated and it seems buggy, which I'd blame it on Dosbox but all the other games in the series worked fine, so I'll have to rest the blame on the game itself.) Collectively, this is a throwback to a bygone era of gaming. Not all, but a good deal of contemporary productions (whether in film, television or gaming) tend to be intense with often quite dark themes. There is absolutely a place for these type of games. However, there is absolutely a place for lighter, sweeter fun too - and Command Keen is the game for you if that is what you are looking for! Setting aside Keen 3, the rest of the series are great fun and all contain interesting and sometimes even challenging wee puzzles (the type of puzzles where, even if you don't get them at first go, if you play through them a few times, eventually you will succeed). The graphics on the first three are simply adorable and the final three have really cutesy but good graphics: surprisingly good, particularly for EGA graphics. There is something about the old EGA art that I find really endearing - especially those late stage of EGA games, just before the 256 VGA adaptors arrived, which demanded the artists make the absolute most out of that 16-colour palette! The sound effects in the original are also quite adorable, making the absolute most out of the original PC speakers! By Keen 4 and onward, the music and sound effects are just brilliant (for example, when you are collecting the water droplets in Keen 4 or squishing the fly with the pogo stick). So, if you want a good 'all-arounder' to have fun playing with a bit of challenge, but without being *too* challenging, then Keen is the perfect choice! Apart from what I said about Keen 3 above, I can't fault the rest of the series. I played these when they were originally released, I have just played them again now and I will play absolutely them again in the future when this type of game strikes my fancy!
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Blast from the past and one of my favorites when I was a kid and fumbling my way through early windows shareware/freeware games.
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My playtime is not accurate as this game was left turned on 10 years ago while on vacation. It's classic Commander Keen. Episodes 5, 4 and 1 are the best. Download the latest version of DOSBOX before you start playing. You can use a controller through the JoyToKey software.
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I played this game since i was a little kid, i was so surprised to it in the stores. i immediately buy it and stated playing it. :D
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This is a direct port of the first five Commander Keen games. It runs in Dosbox, includes no manual and has no simple option to remap the controls from using control, alt and in some cases space bar to jump and shoot. With that said they didn't even bother with a native launcher outside of just picking one of five episodes. The first three episodes are basically the first game, and the last two episodes are the second game. All told there's actually many hours of game play in here, probably up to 40 if you really want to explore and beat the games on their hardest difficulty. Assuming you haven't played Commander Keen before, it's Id Software's pet project before they came up with Doom. John Romero's name is on the leaderboard in the fourth game and his name also hidden as an easter egg in one of the levels. I found this pretty cool. This is probably not a good game for kids today to play because it's extremely frustrating at times and has trial and error game play where you must replay sections 10, 20, 50 or more times. For retro gamers who like a challenge these are worth playing, but I recommend looking up the maps online to avoid endless frustration. The game has a key system like Doom, and Keen can jump on his pogo stick for extra height. The platforming in these games is actually very fun because it's extremely precise and you have to know when to take the pogo stick out. Further, if you take the pogo out and hit the jump button immediately after you can do kind of a trick jump that launches you higher. If you enjoy games where you come up with your own creative sequence breaks to overcome obstacles you will probably have a lot of fun with these. The first commander Keen game is labeled "Complete Pack" but it's actually episode 1: lost on mars. This one is pretty short and can be completed in about fifteen minutes. The second game, the Earth Explodes, is more elaborate as there are more levels and more puzzle elements, but it's still very simplstic and dated. The third game is where these games really start to get good. Keen Must Die has labyrinthian maps with multiple layers and tons of deathtraps which makes the game all the harder considering you die in a single hit and must start over. This game is a ton of fun but there are a couple levels that are so insanely frustrating that I actually think it's one of the hardest platforming games I've played. Episode 4, Secret of the Oracle, could be considered the start of the second game. This one has bigger and more cartoony graphics and much smoother controls. It's still terribly frustrating, at least if you play on hard difficulty, which I did. There's one level in episode 4 that I got stuck at for almost five hours because there are so many things that can kill you it's insane. The fifth episode is slightly easier, with only one really difficult stage, and mostly consists of wandering around a space ship shooting robots. 3,4 and 5 are all great games with truly challenging game play that really requires you to understand the enemy patterns. Even though the AI is simplistic the movement patterns are totally unpredictable so knowing the enemy weak points is really the only way to survive. There is a little more to Commander Keen than your typical retro platformer and I highly recommend it if you want to try your hand at some trial and error precision gameplay.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Commander Keen is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam.
Commander Keen is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 4.99€ on Steam.
Commander Keen received 1,402 positive votes out of a total of 1,501 achieving a rating of 8.86.
😎
Commander Keen was developed and published by id Software.
Commander Keen is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Commander Keen is not playable on MacOS.
Commander Keen is not playable on Linux.
Commander Keen is a single-player game.
Commander Keen does not currently offer any DLC.
Commander Keen does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Commander Keen does not support Steam Remote Play.
Commander Keen is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Commander Keen.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 09 June 2025 09:21 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 11 June 2025 10:12 |
| Steam price | 15 June 2025 04:44 |
| Steam reviews | 13 June 2025 11:49 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Commander Keen, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Commander Keen
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Commander Keen concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Commander Keen compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
8
Developer
id Software
Publisher
id Software
Release
03 Aug 2007
Platforms